[labgrade]

Heard a couple Rush commercials & he says "give me control for two years/no congress & I'll make this country what it was always supposed to be." (para'd)

Besides being totally unconstitutional (hey, I can forgive 'im) ....

You're in charge, get to do whatever you want to "make us all better."

Whaddaya do?

5 top things. Why not? maybe top 10.

[2dogs]

http://www.welchreport.com/alert2.cfm?rank_cho=86

Congressional Legislation Restore Citizens' Self-Defense Bill # H.R.31
Original Sponsor: Roscoe Bartlett (R-MD 6th)

Cosponsor Total: 78 (last sponsor added 09/18/2002) 14 Democrats 64 Republicans About This Legislation:

Two and a half million times a year, Americans use firearms to defend themselves, their homes, and their families against criminal threats. Sadly, the anti-gun zealotry of some liberal jurisdictions is so extreme that prosecutors are more intent on punishing the armed victim than the predatory criminal.

H.R. 31 -- Citizens' Self-Defense Act of 2001, introduced by Maryland Congressman Roscoe Bartlett, would reaffirm the right to use a firearm to protect yourself, your family, and your home. As such, it would preempt any state or local statute or decision seeking to limit that Second Amendment right.

Furthermore, H.R. 31 would allow aggrieved gun owners to bring an action against local officials for damages, injunctive relief and such other relief as the court deems appropriate.

Jurisdictions (such as Texas) which have expanded the rights of citizens to use firearms to defend themselves have uniformly witnessed dramatic drops in homicide and crime rates.

By emboldening gun owners to maintain and carry firearms for self-defense, H.R. 31 would be a major step toward reducing crime and reaffirming the constitutional principles articulated by our country's founders.

[labgrade]

(negative claxon sound)

That's legislation, good as it sounds.

You're a dictator & get to anything without the "benifit" of congress.

& you gotta do at least 5.

Next? ;)

[2dogs]

5. Replace income tax with consumption tax

4. Do away with all social programs except those that benefit the indigent elderly.

3. Tort reform.

2. Education reform.

1. Close our borders to all illegal immigration; leave France and Germany to fend for themselves; repeal all gun laws; remove speed limits; limit time for death penalty appeals to 1 year; teach firearms use and safety to all children K-12; repeal leash laws; make smoking safe; allow dissent but make those who are wrong suffer consequences befitting their stupidity; allow boys to be boys and girls to be ladies; arm dogs. :)

[DeltaElite]

1. Eliminate all gun laws. Bah-bye ATF.
2. Eliminate any law I think is stupid. They will be viewed on a case by case basis. That would take two years alone. :(
3. Order that all 68 Shelby GT500KR Convertibles be confiscated and given to me. Hey being a dictator has to have its perks. ;)
4. Seal the US borders, even if it means using the military to do so.
5. Eliminate any and all foreign threats, be they countries or terrorist organizations.
6. Retire after my two years, since I don't really wanna be in charge anyway.
7. Drive my Shelby collection. :D

[3 gun]

1. Good-bye ATF. Repeal all gun laws back to at least 1934.
2. End the idea that this is a democracy Move voting rights back toward what was intended by the FF. You must have passed HS, hold a job/ property, and be a citizen to vote.
3. Good-bye IRS. Hello flat tax.
4. End property taxes You could truly own your land.
5. Single transferable plate for however many cars/bikes you own. You can only drive one at a time so why pay extra.
6. All legal questions must just judged on the original law, not the slippery slope of years of legal options. What part of "shall not be infringed" isn't clear?
7. Start the draft. The nation needs the unifying effect of the common experiences of military service.
8. Recognize the entire BOR including the 10th Amendment.

[St. Gunner]

When you picked up a book of US laws it would include a copy of the Constitution, with a few pages attached to each amendment to the BOR, and what they truly mean and will mean well into the future. I would downsize government to the point it wouldn't be much of a government at all, but an extension of the people. We'd have a national sales tax implemented, no exemptions for anyone for anything, you use it, you pay the tax. I'd dump most of the judges on federal courts and replace them with men of honor who appreciate the constitution. Then I would commision some of the members here and other boards to write a book about the transgressions of government in the 1900's. It would be required reading by anyone attempting to win a Senate or House seat after I left.

Oh and many of the fascist legislators we have faced in the last 30 or so years would be executed for their treason to this great nation. Not a pleasant endeavor, but a needed one in order to be able to say, Justice has been done when I leave office.

I figure I wouldn't need the whole two years, and when everything was reformed, the new elections held and senators and congressman and a new President where ready to step-in, you could find me here in Texas catching up on my hog hunting...

:D :D :D

[Oleg Volk]

Realistically speaking, is there any viable mechanism for reduction of influence of all branches of government? Let's say the next president is an Ayn Rand clone...would she have any way of reducing the authority and the enforcement mechanisms of existing agencies, or would separation of the branches work against that?

[3 gun]

I believe that re-establishing the checks and balances intended by the FF in the Constitution/ BOR and the enforcement of the 10th amendment would take care of most if not all the problems we have now with big government.

[Billll]

1) Tort reform
2) Term Limits
3) Taxes - flat - 2/3 vote to raise, simple majority to lower - restore presidential option to not spend unless overrulled by 2/3 majority
4) Privatize social security
5) Free trade: Establish an economic confederation. If your country will establish personal and property rights equivilant to ours, we'll let your country in. Duty free, both ways. I'll start by putting out feelers to England, Ireland, and Turkey.

OK, that's 5. While everybody is distracted, I'll try to get some minor housekeeping done: Repeal gun laws to 1900 or so, and abolish or reduce to the status of small advisory panels the departments of Education, Energy, Commerce, HHS, EEOC, EPA, OSHA, ATF, and such other alphabet agencies as are brought to my attention as being counter productive.

It's good to be the King.

[Chris Rhines]

1.) Abolish all forms of taxation.
2.) Abolish welfare, medicaid, social security, and the rest of the 'Great Society' social engineering.
3.) Privatize the legal system.
4.) Repeal any laws interfering in any way with the right to own property.
5.) Have every politician and government employee who has participated in a willful violation of individual rights arrested, tried, and imprisoned (if they're lucky.)

- Chris

[Jim V]

1: Demand that every federal agency show where its existance and what it was created to do was required or allowed by the Constitution and BOR. It it ain't there, they ain't here.

2: Stop all foreign aid.

3: Stop all "we are the world's policeman" actions.

4: Stop all welfare programs.

5: Eliminate all taxes not allowed by the Constitution and BOR. Leaving the income tax. (see: 5A)
5A: Determine if the amendment allowing the Income Tax was legally adopted. If not, out it goes.
5B: Replace the graduated income tax with a flat rate tax. (If 5A was adopted correctly)

6: If any politician, actor, singer, or entertainer of any stripe says that they will leave the country if such and such happens, they would have 96 hours to leave the country or be hunted down like a rabid dog. Four days whould be enough time to get their stuff packed and get out. If not, oh well.........

7: Declare blanket amnesty for those arrested and convicted of violation of any fireams laws, federal or state or local.

8: Prosecute all those who worked to enact laws that were in violation of the Constitution and BOR.

9: Armed foreign military personnel making excursions across our borders will be looked up on as an act of aggression by their country and correct and appropriate actions will result.

10: Illegal aliens in the country will be deported and their countries of origin will be informed that we will consider their illegal entrance to the country the same as 9.

That should do it pretty well, I think.

[Ian]

Our current Constitution has a bunch of very serious flaws, which have allowed our entire existing government to grow to maturity without ever actually violating the Constitution. In order to have a lasting effect, any proposed solution must do more than end the program or action in question; it must also remove the power of the government to engage in the action.

Specifically, the following sections are ugly blotches on what could have been a great bulwark of freedom:
Preface: Axe the "for the general welfare" hooey.
Article 1, Section 3, Clause 6: Impeachment should be done by the people, not the Senate.
Article 1, Section 6, Clause 1: Congressmen should not be immune from arrest in any circumstance. Furthermore, they should be held individually liable for rights-violating legislation.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 1: Congress should not have the power to tax for the "general welfare" of the states.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 3: "Regulating commerce" is the root of much of our present Leviathan. Axe that power.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 9: Congress shouldn't have any power to create tribunal courts.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 12: Congress should not have the power to raise its own army.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 15: The militia should never be called forth "to execute the laws of the Union", nor to suppress insurrection in other states.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 16: Congress shouldn't have the power to govern the militia.
Article 1, Section 8, Clause 18: No implied powers!
Article 1, Section 9, Clause 2: Habeus Corpus should be an absolute right, not revokeable privilege.
Article 2, Section 2, Clause 2: The President should not appoint Supreme Court justices, they should be elected.
Article 3: Far too vague. We need some concrete limits on Judiciary power.
Article 4, Section 2, Clause 3: Punishing fugitive slaves is obviously abhorrent.
Article 5: Constitutional amendments should be subject to popular ratification, not Congressional ratification.

Amendments 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 9, and 10 need to be stronger. Amendment 16 is an abomination, and should be stricken.

All in all, if I were Dictator-For-Two-Years, I would be a one-man Constitutional Convention. I'd nullify the entire Constitution, and replace it with a document more conducive to liberty:

We the undersigned people of the united States of America, in order to form a more perfect union, render impotent the everpresent threat of tyranny, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Federation of American States.

Article I: Legislative Department

Section 1 - Congress

1. All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the States united.

2. The Congress shall be composed of two Representatives from each State, elected by the people thereof every second year. Each Representative shall have one vote.

3. No person shall be elected to Congress who has previously been elected to Congress, who is not a resident of the State he or she represents, or is at time of election receiving any monies from Congress for any reason.

4. When vacancies happen in the representation from any State, the people of the State in question shall elect a replacement Representative should they desire to do so.

5. The Congress shall choose a Speaker from among its members, who shall preside over all debates in the Congress.

6. Any representative may be recalled from Congress at any time by a majority vote of the people of the State he or she represents.

Section 2 – Congressional Elections and Meetings

1. The times, places, and manners of holding elections for Congressional Representatives shall be prescribed in each state by the people thereof.

2. The first assembly of Congress shall occur on the first Monday of January following the ratification of this Constitution. Congress shall remain assembled for no longer than 30 consecutive days in a year. Immediately prior to dispersing, Congress shall vote on whether or not to assemble the following year. If 76% of the Congress does not vote in favor of assembly, then Congress shall be dissolved until the States unanimously agree to reassemble the Congress.

Section 3 – Internal Operations of Congress

1. A majority of two thirds of Congress will constitute a quorum to enact any legislation.

2. The Congress may determine the rules of its proceedings, and punish its members for disorderly behavior.

3. Congress shall keep a complete journal of its proceedings, and publish the same no later than one week after the end of a year’s Congressional session. This Journal shall include complete lists of each Representative’s vote on every issue discussed by Congress.

Section 4 – Privileges and Disabilities of Members

1. Congress shall authorize no expenditures for payment of its members. Congressional Representatives may receive payment only from the State which they represent.

2. Should any article of legislation passed by Congress by found by a State court to be contrary to the limits under which the Congress is created, every member of Congress who voted in favor of said legislation shall be personally and individually responsible to every individual injured by said legislation. In addition to making restitution to said victim as determined by the courts of the State in which the victim resides, a Representative guilty of supporting said legislation shall immediately be expelled from Congress.

3. During his or her term in Congress, no Representative shall hold any office or paid position in any State, local, or Federal government.

Section 5 – Procedure for Passing Laws

1. After a bill is presented for discussion among the members of Congress it shall be brought to a vote before the members of Congress. If it is supported by a majority of two thirds of the whole Congress, it shall become a Law of the Land, effective immediately.

Section 6 – Powers Delegated to Congress

1. Congress shall have the authority to request voluntary donation of monies to itself from States and individuals;

2. To contract with private individuals or companies for the safekeeping, though not the investment, of any such monies as are donated to the Congress;

3. To fix the standard of weights and measures;

4. To call forth the militias of the several States to repel foreign invasion;

5. To promote the progress of science and the useful arts, by offering monetary prizes for the accomplishment of various technological or scientific goals;

6. To exercise exclusive rule over such a district (not more than 1 mile square) as may, by cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the seat of government of the Federation of American States, wherein Congress shall assemble.

Section 7 – Limitations upon Powers of Congress

1. Congress shall have no power or authority to engage in any activity not expressly allowed by Section 6 of this Constitution.

2. Congress shall have no power to infringe, restrict, regulate, license, tax, or in any way limit and individual’s absolute right to own property, including his or her own body. Any legislation passed by Congress which has such an effect is null and void from time of passage, and may be ignore without fear of punishment by any State or local government.

3. In no case shall any law passed by Congress have any authority against any persons save those who explicitly and knowingly submit to this Constitution, as expressed by signing this Constitution.

Article II: Admission of New States

New States may join the Federation of American States by choosing two Representatives and sending them to an assembly of the Congress. No new States shall exist within existing States, save with the consent of the said existing State.

Article III: Amendments

The Congress may at any time propose amendments to this Constitution, and upon unanimous consent of the whole of Congress such amendments shall become Law of the Land two years after the date of passage by Congress. Should this Constitution be amended in any way, all signatories to it shall be released in whole from their obligation to uphold and obey it.

Article IV: Ratification

This Constitution shall take effect as Law of the Land immediately upon being signed by any individual or individuals.

[cratz2]

repeal leash laws

I was with ya up until this... I guess we could immediately forgive all non-owner dog killings. Right?